Capitol Hill Report: DACA on the Chopping Block

September 8, 2017

DACA on the Chopping Block

After a campaign of promised immigration reform, President Trump has addressed his next steps with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Many of the left-wing rhetoric makes this action seem like a massive deportation of innocent children. There is more to the story than that.

DACA was a program implemented by President Obama and was solely a work permit and federal benefits program, not a pathway to citizenship. President Obama stated many times that this was intended to be a temporary fix, however, he reinstated it and continually ignored federal immigration law. This gave way to the mess we are dealing with today.

DACA cropped back up because of a deadline on pending litigation leftover from the Obama administration. The judge handling this case had struck down immigration policy that the previous administration was set on implementing, so it is likely that DACA would have been rescinded as well. President Trump is allowing the program to be phased out over ten years and giving Congress six months to act on new immigration policy. The Department of Homeland Security will continue to focus on prosecuting convicted criminals, illegal entries, and those who have overstayed their visas, not on mass deportation.

Eagle Forum looks forward to new legislation that will protect American families and will continue to monitor immigration legislation moving in Congress.